Bangladesh U-15 squad named for Saff Championship

The Bangladesh Football Federation on Sunday announced the final 23-member Bangladesh U-15 squad ahead of the inaugural Saff U-15 Championship. The youth tournament, which was previously known as Saff U-16 Championship with a different format, kicks off with the match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at ANFA Complex in Nepal on Friday. The final is scheduled for August 27. Led by head coach Mostofa Anwar Parvez and team manager Amer Khan, a 30-man Bangladesh contingent, including seven officials, will leave here for Kathmandu on Wednesday, only two days before their inaugural match.

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Mahboob Alam Paulo and Ahasunuzzaman Jhatu are the two assistant coaches while Jahan E Alam Nury will be traveling as the goalkeeper coach. Among the 23 players, highest 11 players came from BKSP while young booters from Jessore, Sirajganj, Dhaka, Narayanganj, Noakhali, Habiganj, Rangpur, Barisal and Sylhet complete the squad. Defender Jehad Hossain has been named as the captain of the team, who have been preparing for the tournament in the last one month in Khulna BKSP and Savar BKSP.

“The U-16 team won the last tournament and we will try to retain the title. It will not be an easy job as the opponents are strong but after playing three practice matches, I think we are not weak as well,” said Jehad during a press conference on Sunday.

Being the reigning champion of the last Saff U-16 Championship in 2015 in Sylhet, Bangladesh have been placed along with Bhutan and Sri Lanka in Group A while India, Nepal and Maldives make up Group B.